I live in Matthews, in the west border of Union county.  I'm no far from
Charlotte.  I don't think this is the area you were looking for, but I was
in a pet shop recently and thought that some education could help greatly.
(How do these petshop workers get hired with their lack of knowledge or
even INTEREST in animals?  THey all act so bored...)
 
There was a cute young chocolate or sable with a dark little nose...He was
in a cage with nothing to sleep on but some kind of shavings, which smelled
like pine to me :( and one of those small litter boxes with no litter in
it.  The little guy was pooping in his pine bedding.  I was crouched down,
talking with him when the kid that worked there came over.  "Don't touch
him.  He bites really hard.  We had a guy pick him up yesterday that he
latched onto and wouldn't let go."  I was very mad.  What a way to sell a
ferret!  Of course, only competent ferret owners would ignore that and know
how to handle that, so I guess it's good that some idiot won't buy him and
give up on him.  Poor little guy.
 
I said,"Well, they don't bite for no reason.  Maybe he isn't happy sleeping
on that poisonous stuff."  I then noticed that he had no food in sight.
"Oh, we feed him once a day so he doesn't poop a lot and get fat."  We're
talking about a young, half-grown kit here.
 
Really sad.
 
So, ferret awareness needs to go wherever we can take it, and it is
desparately needed here.
 
thanks,
~Jessica
[Posted in FML issue 3126]